Leonor Rivera: Rizal's first love, inspiration for 'Maria Clara'

Related Content

Leonor Rivera, Rizal's childhood sweetheart, is said to have inspired the character …

By Anna Valmero

MAKATI CITY, METRO MANILA—Before he became the country's national hero, Jose Rizal, the romantic, fell in love for the first time with his childhood sweetheart Leonor Rivera, who later became the inspiration for the iconic character Maria Clara in his novel “Noli Me Tangere”.

Leonor, a native of Camiling, Tarlac, was Rizal's first love.

“Their love did not have a happy ending but you will see from the letters they wrote to each other their deep affection and how romantic Filipinos are,” said Jeannie Javelosa, curator of Yuchengco Museum during the launch of the exhibit “Rizalizing The Future.”

Rizal was linked to many beautiful girls including Nelly Boustead, Josephine Bracken, Seisan, Gertruse Beckett and Narcisa Lopez but Rivera outshines most, if not all of them.

This could be attributed to the tragic ending of their love story or the artifacts proving how the two remained faithful to each other even after Rizal moved to Europe to study, said Javelosa.

The two were known as “lovers by correspondence” because of their countless love letters written in different languages such as Filipino, English, Spanish and French. The shift in the languages used by Rizal was to prevent interception of the letters by Spanish authorities,” said Carla Martinez, information associate at Yuchengco Museum.

Those letters, however, failed to reach Rivera because her mother burned them, never to be seen by the intended recipient. Her mother was against Rizal for he was tagged a “filibustero” or subversive after joining the propaganda movement against the Spanish.

After not getting a word from his lover, Rivera consented to his mother's wish to marry Henry Kipping, a railway engineer whom she met when her family moved to Dagupan. At that time, the Dagupan-Manila railway was being constructed.

“It could be noted that when Leonor married Kipping, Rizal had his first heartbreak because theirs was a young love and she was his first love. Their love lasted for a little over a decade,” said Martinez.

Luckily, the ashes of Rizal's letters were kept inside a box with a cover featuring the lovers' initials. The box was donated by the descendants of the Kipping family for display during the month-long Rizal exhibit.

Also on display are payoneta with Rivera's hair cuttings and gold jewelries.

“It was sad that we will never know the prose in these letters but the existence of the ashes is more than enough proof to tell us how Rizal loved Leonor [Rivera] and this proves the hearsays that the two expressed their love through letters for each other,” said Martinez.

A renowned pianist and singer during her time, Rivera told her mother that she would marry Kipping on these conditions: that she would stop singing or playing the piano, and she'd die young.

“She did this to show her dislike for not marrying her first and only love, Rizal,” narrated Javelosa. Rivera gave birth to a child and died with the letters of Rizal stitched to her gown and buried with her “because of her undying love,” added Javelosa, who says Leonor's undying fidelity made her the epitome of a loving Filipino woman.

“Rizalizing the Future” can be viewed every Mondays and Saturdays, from 10a.m. to 6p.m. Entrance for a whole-day museum tour for children and senior citizen is P25 each, while the fee students and adults is P50 and P100, respectively.

***

loQal.ph (http://loqal.ph/ ) is a website owned and operated by Filquest Media Concepts, Inc. It works under the principle of giving voice to the voiceless, empowering Filipinos and uplifting the image of the Philippines by highlighting its unique culture. To do this, the loQal.ph team produces stories, video, photos and other multimedia content types to inspire and celebrate Filipino achievements, ideas, products and places.

Editor’s note:Yahoo Philippines encourages responsible comments that add dimension to the discussion. No bashing or hate speech, please. You can express your opinion without slamming others or making derogatory remarks.

Instead of filing an opposition, ombudsman prosecutors filed a manifestation yesterday expressing belief that there is no urgent need for Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. to visit his son at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center. “Based on the clinical abstract issued by the Asian Hospital on patient (Cavite) Vice-governor (Jolo) Revilla, which was submitted by accused Revilla in support of his Urgent Motion, Vice-governor Revilla is in stable condition and has stable vital signs, as of March 1, …

Government troops captured Sunday a bomb and weapons factory of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) announced yesterday. Col. Restituto Padilla, AFP spokesman, said the captured bomb and weapons factory is located inside an area controlled by radical Muslim cleric Ustadz Mohammad Ali Tambako at Barangay Dasikil in Mamasapano. …

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea and vowed "merciless" retaliation Monday as the US and South Korea kicked off joint military drills denounced by Pyongyang as recklessly confrontational. The annual exercises always trigger a surge in military tensions and warlike rhetoric on the divided peninsula, and analysts saw the North's missile tests as a prelude to a concerted campaign of sabre-rattling. "If there is a particularly sharp escalation, we could see the …

CAIRO (AP) — Three British schoolgirls believed to have gone to Syria to become "jihadi" brides. Three young men charged in New York with plotting to join the Islamic State group and carry out attacks on American soil. A masked, knife-wielding militant from London who is the face of terror in videos showing Western hostages beheaded. …

Filipinos aspiring to work overseas should avoid dealing with a recruitment agency that has duped jobseekers worldwide, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said yesterday. The National Bureau of Investigation has padlocked Global Visas Inc., which is based in Cebu. Baldoz said the agency’s parent company, ICS Global Visas Inc. based in the United Kingdom, has reportedly collapsed and left thousands of applicants without jobs. “Global Visas was in the limelight this week, following its reported …

Colleagues of boxing champion Manny Pacquiao at the House of Representatives backed yesterday a proposal to exempt his earnings from his May 2 fight with American Floyd Mayweather from income tax. Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares has urged Pacquiao to promptly pay taxes on his May 2 earnings, which are projected to reach at least $120 million (more than P5.2 billion). …

A solar-powered plane made a third successful test flight in the United Arab Emirates on Monday ahead of a planned round-the-world tour to promote alternative energy. Organisers hope that Solar Impulse 2 may head off around the globe as early as Saturday but caution that the launch is dependent on the weather, even in the relatively cloudless Gulf. The hour-long test flight was the plane's third from the UAE capital Abu Dhabi's small Al-Bateen airport, but the first for Solar Impulse chairman …